Introduction In the first chapter of Mark Jesus is opposed by demons. In the second chapter of Mark Jesus is opposed by scribes and pharisees and religious leaders. The second chapter begins with the servant who forgives (vv.1-12); and continues with the servant who fulfills (v.13-22); and the servant who provides freedom (v.23-3:12). The ministry of Jesus will be marked by faithful friends and hostile foes. In this section Mark moves quickly from the place where healing and forgiveness takes place to the paralytic who will experience wholeness and wellness, but most of all forgiveness. The section concludes with some questions and criticisms surrounding the subject of forgiveness. What does it mean to be forgiven (v.5)? The questions that come from being forgiven (vv.6-7) and the source of forgiveness (vv.8-11) and the impact of being forgiven (v.12). Why does the Bible spend so much time on the subjects of healing and forgiveness? Because most people experience some measure of sickness and all people sin! A man sent a letter simply addressed to the United States Government. I am sending ten dollars for blankets I stole while in World War II. My mind could not rest. Sorry I am late. It was signed, an ex-gi. Then there was this postscript, I want to be ready to meet God. Apparently his letter is one of thousands the US Government has received. Since 1811 notes and funds have been deposited in what has been called The Conscience Fund. Apparently it adds up to about $3.5 million dollars. The famous author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had a wry sense of humor. He is best remembered for creating the wonderful character Sherlock Holmes. He opens one episode with a cruel prank. He decides to send a dozen friends a single telegram with the same message. Fly at once, all is discovered. Within 24 hours all twelve left the country. In my life I have played similar pranks. I once called a person and pretended that I was from the IRS. But not all pranks are created equal. It is illegal to impersonate a Federal Agent. We all sin. We accumulate sin. We hoard sin the way a person hoards stuff. We add to sin fear and guilt and failure. Man s greatest need is to have his sins forgiven. Jesus has become famous for healing, and now Jesus will do the unthinkable, the incredible. We have seen Jesus cure the incurable. Deliver the Demoniac. Touch the untouchable. Now Jesus claims authority in an area reserved exclusively for God. Only God can forgive sins. The religious leaders must have done everything they could from choking on the words of Jesus. The opposition from the religious leaders will escalate. At first the religious leaders will reason in their hearts (vv.6-7) against Jesus. This will be followed by making a complaint about him to his disciples (v.16); and then they will protest to Jesus himself; not because of what Jesus is doing but because of what he is allowing his disciples to do (v.24). But by the third chapter they begin to hatch schemes to destroy him and charge him with being in league with the devil (3:22). 1
The Place Where Forgiveness Takes Place (vv.1-2) Mark 2:1 (NKJV) And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. The language Mark uses literally says; It was heard, He is in a house. But this is the Greek way of saying; The people heard that He had come home (NIV). Many people who had missed the opportunity to see Jesus or hear Jesus or experience a healing returned for another chance. What happens when Jesus shows up? Good men are attracted to Him. Bad men benefit from Him. Sick people are healed by Him. Broken people are made whole. Guilty people are forgiven. Mark 2:2 (NKJV) Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Once again Mark points to priority of preaching the word. The Paralytic Who Needs Forgiveness (vv.3-4) Mark 2:3 (NKJV) Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. We are introduced to five new characters; four faith filled friends carrying a paralytic. Paralysis is not as painful as cancer or as loathsome as leprosy; or as fatal as progeria. Progeria causes a person to age prematurely. It is generally diagnosed in children who are 18 months to two years old. Symptoms include stiff joints, dislocated hips, hair loss, aged-looking skin, strokes and heart disease. People with progeria live an average of 8 to 21 years, with heart disease being the most common cause of death. Another form of the syndrome, called Werner's syndrome, affects people in their late teen years. The average life span for people with this condition is 40 to 50 years. But paralysis does render the person helpless. There are people who are infected with a kind of spiritual paralysis which renders them unwilling or unable to consider their sinful circumstances. It is vain to expect such people to turn to Christ. Our mission is to bring them to Jesus. What about the people who are indifferent or helpless? Two or more constitute a committee. Someone has said that a committee is made up of those who take down minutes and waste hours. Another has said that a committee is made of a group of people who individually can do nothing but decide that together nothing can be done. That is generally what happens when you have a committee. 2
Mark 2:4 (NKJV) And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When entrance is blocked; when the door is barred and the windows yield no access, the faith filled friends seek a more elevated alternative! They head for the roof! We are often faced with obstacles, barriers, hinderances in bringing our paralyzed friends to Jesus. Faith finds a way. Someone has nicknamed these four friends Sympathy and Cooperation and Originality and Persistence. The four faith filled and faithful friends demonstrate their love, their concern and their faith. These men are both literally and spiritually stretcher bearers. They are making a provision for their friend the only way they know how. The men take their friend to Jesus. Prosperity may have brought the friends together but now adversity causes them to cling to their friend. True friends are like diamonds, hard, precious, rare. False friends are like autumn leaves, full of color and found everywhere. The four friends uncovered the roof or broke up the roof. Literally they unroofed the roof (apestegasan ten stegen). Mark s gospel is the only one that includes the information and after digging through it ; Luke s gospel says that they went up on the roof and lowered the paralytic through the tile. The typical home had a flat roof, like in New Mexico, with outside steps that lead to the house-top. On top of the crossbeams were laid, branches, or a mud mixture, or tiles covered with dirt. The four friends dug through the dirt, broke through the tiles, and lowered the man down in front of Jesus. The Power To Impart Forgiveness (vv.5-12) Mark 2:5 (NKJV) When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven you. What a strange and unexpected thing to say! The man is paralyzed. Does physical paralysis have some connection to the soul? Jesus is way more interested in the source rather than the symptoms! Jesus has no intention of healing the body and neglecting the man s soul! Why fix a temporal condition and neglect or ignore the more important eternal condition! How did Jesus see their faith? Look up for a moment and see their faces! Of all the things you wear your expression is the most important! A smile is understood in every language! Jesus saw the invisible. Jesus saw the internal. The four men had a daring faith. They dared to do the difficult. It was not easy lugging their paralyzed friend into the crowd, and they lug him up the stairs. It wasn t easy to bring this man to the Lord. What kind of faith? A willingness to do the difficult. What kind of faith? A willingness to do the unorthodox. It is not normal to tear up the 3
roof. When the door was blocked, when the windows were shut, they did not appoint a committee to see what could be done to get this man to Jesus! It is amazing that Jesus does not rebuke them or criticize them for the interruption! He doesn t present them with a roof repair bill! What a wonderful announcement! At this very moment, in this very life, your sins are forgiven you! What about Judgment Day? What about know one knows for sure? What about we have to wait until we die? If God were not willing to forgive sin then heaven would be empty! C.H. Spurgeon used to preach We are certain that there is forgiveness, because there is a gospel, and the very essence of the gospel lies in the proclamation of the pardon of sin. Mark 2:6 (NKJV) And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, The religious leaders are attending the Bible Study! We have seen the story migrate from four friends and their faith and their friend, to the Servant s forgiveness to the scribes frowns! The Scribes are checking out the new Rabbi from Nazareth. Mark 2:7 (NKJV) Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone? The scribes are right. If Jesus is an ordinary man, if Jesus is simply a human being. Only God can forgive sin. Sin is a moral offense. David wrote, Against You and You only have I sinned. Sacrifice was offered to God to atone for sins. If I borrowed money from you and paid somebody else back the money I owed you; would you be offended? Sin is a transgression an offense against God. Jesus, you ve crossed the line. The religious leader faces an extraordinary dilemma. How do I explain Jesus? How do I deal with all the implications of what Jesus has said? Jesus is claiming the rights and privileges of God because He is God; or... Why does this man speak blasphemies like this? blasphemei is a complete sentence (present indicative of the verb). Blasphemy is a very strong word. The word generally meant to slander or insult. In this case it means to insult God. The Jews were convinced that Jesus was insulting God by claiming to have the same powers as God! In their minds you cannot claim to forgive sins without claiming the divine prerogatives of God thereby insinuating that you are God! The statements of Jesus will perplex and then infuriate and finally alienate the religious establishment. The religious leaders were like rocking horses, always in motion but never going anywhere! Mark 2:8 (NKJV) But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? 4
Jesus read their thoughts. Is this the spiritual gift of discernment? Or supernatural powers? Mark 2:9 (NKJV) Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Arise, take up your bed and walk? What is the answer to the question Jesus raises? Someone might suggest it is easier to say Your sins are forgiven you but there is no evidence that forgiveness has in fact taken place. It is harder to say Arise, take up your bed and walk and expect the paralytic to actually rise up and walk! I think the answer might be both are equally easy for God. Both are equally impossible for a mere mortal or an ordinary human being to say and do! Both are equally possible for God. Both are equally impossible for man. The question Jesus raises is surprising for the critic of Jesus. Can the Scribe or the Pharisee guarantee forgiveness of sin? Or are the religious leaders at the mercy of the revelation of God in the Law? Can the Scribe or the Pharisee say to the paralytic; Arise, take up your bed and walk? The critic of Christianity and Christ have no power to heal or forgive! The answer Jesus gives shows the poverty and insufficiency of the religious establishment to offer hope, to speak to either the man s moral or physical condition! How wicked are the people who oppose God and Christ. This was in my E-Mail box: Federal Judge Bans Prayer at Graduation Ceremony Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery even forbids using the word prayer in this hijacking of religious freedom. From the story: The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by Christa and Danny Schultz. Their son is among those scheduled to participate in Saturday s graduation ceremony. The judge declared that the Schultz family and their son would suffer irreparable harm if anyone prayed at the ceremony. The judge insists violators be arrested (Fox News). A Federal Judge believes prayer can cause irreparable harm!? Jesus does not dispute the claim that only God can forgive sin. Mark 2:10 (NKJV) But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins He said to the paralytic, Jesus reinforces the idea that God has given to Jesus the rights and privileges and prerogatives of Deity. God the Father has given Jesus the absolute right to forgive sins. Here the word power means moral authority or authorization (exousia--not dunamis). Jesus has the right to forgive the inward stain and the outward disability. 5
Jesus is in effect pointing out that it is impossible for Him to blaspheme or insult either His Father or Himself. Jesus is God. As God He has both the real power and the conferred power to do as He wishes. A short list of the shared titles of Jehovah in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament will reveal to all--but the most committed skeptic or unbeliever the truth that Jesus has all the prerogatives of Deity. Jesus is called Creator, Saviour, Judge, Raiser of the Dead, Light, Shepherd, I Am, The Glory of God, God, The First and the Last, The Redeemer, The Bridegroom and The Rock. But it is the forgiver of sins that draws our focus and attention. It is Jesus the one who releases the moral and spiritual debt that arrests our attention. If Jesus can really forgive sins, and if sin is the greatest problem facing every human being, than we are doing ourselves an enormous disservice if we do not at least consider the claims of Jesus carefully. Now Jesus will put up or shut up! The scribes could not see the man s forgiven, so they did not believe. Jesus was willing to give the religious leaders something they could see! Mark 2:11 (NKJV) I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. Mark 2:12 (NKJV) Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this! The man walked as a powerful testimony to the authority of Jesus to forgive and heal a man s whole being! The audience were amazed and glorified God! Jesus is still willing to forgive sin. The forgiveness of sins should dramatically effect you and should effect everyone who knows you! Does Jesus have the power to forgive sins? In this passage Mark s gospel will bring into sharp focus four powerful insights that result in the man s healing and forgiveness. 1. Jesus knows what is going on inside the human heart. Jesus understood the thoughts, the motives, the intentions, the calculations and reasonings taking place inside of the hearts of the men who brought the paralytic, the paralytic and Christ s critics! 2. Jesus demonstrated supernatural wisdom, insight, intelligence and wisdom. Jesus invites the religious leaders to test Him to do the impossible! 3. Jesus makes the bold statement; but that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins (v.10); this is a purpose statement. 4. If Jesus does have the power to forgive sins that man must at that moment get up and walk. Jesus willed the man to walk. Arise, take up your bed and go to your house. Imagine if that 6
man had said, I can t. I m paralyzed. I ve never walked. I will never walk. Sorry. The power to forgive was in the will of Jesus and the word of Jesus. 1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV) who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. Did the miracle convince the religious leaders? No they did not. In spite of overwhelming evidence. They would have to come up with another explanation for the incredible miracle. Belief involves the will. And the religious leaders did not want to believe (see William MacDonald; The Gospel of Mark; p.14). Conclusion A man once stood on a soap-box at Hyde Park Corner, pouring scorn on Christianity. People tell me God exists; but I can t see Him. People tell me that there is a life after death; but I can t see it. People tell me there is a judgment to come; but I can t see it. People tell me there is a heaven and a hell; but I can t see them. He won cheap applause and climbed down from his pulpit. Another struggled on to the Soap Box. People tell me that there is a blue sky above, but I can t see it. People tell me there are trees nearby, but I can see them. You see, I m blind. Can Christians seek and expect God to heal our diseases? Can Christians seek and expect God to forgive our sins? Real healing begins with our relationship to God. Only the person who has heard Jesus say, Your sins are forgiven is free to begin a life of adequacy. How am I to handle life? How can I be confident, poised, accepted? How can I be free from the inner turmoil, tension insecurity? How can I experience healing in all the broken relationships that I have allowed to litter my life? We are eager to seek peace and comfort and healing for ourselves. But it is the sinner and the sick not the whole and the righteous who have first claims on Christ s care. Jesus cleanses the soul. Jesus brings peace. Jesus establishes fellowship with the Father. You will treat people the way you think God treats you. If you genuinely see God has gracious, kind, long-suffering, forgiving, healing, understanding, patient, then that is how you will treat others. 7